Brussels, 11/04/2014 (Agence Europe) - EU Taxation Commissioner Algirdas Semeta of Lithuania used an address at the French Senate to complain about the slow progress on tax issues at EU level.
“The reality of our decision-making process is that the convoy currently moves at the pace of the slowest ship”, he lamented. Tax decisions require unanimous decision-making among member states at the EU Council of Ministers, giving a small number of countries the opportunity to veto things for years, as has happened with the changes to the savings tax directive, which have been on the negotiating table since 2008, but were long vetoed by Luxembourg and Austria and could only be adopted in March 2014. “We have to ask whether that is sustainable in the long term, as our economic and monetary integration becomes ever deeper. Already we have seen an urge to move away from the constraints of unanimity with the enhanced cooperation on FTT. And I can imagine that the more ambitious member states will increasingly look for ways to make progress in the future if unanimity is slowing them down. There are both opportunities and risks to this. On my side, I would favour anchoring tax policy to the deepening of our monetary union, to maintain coherence and avoid a purely 'a la carte' integration.” (EL)